COURSE DESCRIPTION: Popular television shows and films​ on the law have made the legal profession seem exciting and glamorous. Discover how real law can be even more stimulating than its dramatic facsimile. This eight-week series will focus on selected current, highly publicized, volatile and contentious legal issues presented in cases pending before, or just decided by, federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For example, last season's lectures included in-depth analysis and interactive discussions of disparate legal arguments and Constitutional issues (then) pending before the Supreme Court implicating profound issues including: the rights of artificial legal entities to enjoy personal religious freedom protections under the Constitution; same-sex marriage; limitations of Presidential Executive Orders; the circumscribing of voting rights; and an arrestee’s rights to require a judicial hearing and issuance of a search warrant before police could examine his computer and mobile phone for potentially incriminating evidence.

Certain of these issues appear to have been resolved with finality, but not surprisingly, in other instances, the majority opinions have only opened new areas for further substantive Constitutional inquiries during our sessions. This lecture series seeks to anticipate forthcoming important legal issues and prepare the audience to better understand the positions of all opposing parties.

[Prior to the first meeting, enrollees are invited to attend a pre-lecture primer in the Barry and Florence Friedberg Auditorium on the FAU Boca Campus at 8:30 a.m. onWednesday, January 7, 2015, outlining the structure of federal and state appellate court processes.]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:Irving Labovitz, J.D. is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and holds a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the Massachusetts and Wa​shington, DC Bars, and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, as wel​l as multiple federal appellate and trial courts. He has authored many scholarly law review articles and has been a lecturer for the American Bar Association and Commercial Law League of America. He has been a military prosecutor, a member of the legal staff at the Federal Trade Commission, and engaged by the F.D.I.C. as contract counsel for the liquidation of failed banks. He was most recently Counsel of a large corporation. He has been an adjunct professor for Western New England College of Law, as well as the business school of Florida Atlantic University (FAU).